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Places in the News

Military Coup Ousts Honduran President

After weeks of political conflict over a proposed referendum on constitutional presidential term limits, soldiers stormed the presidential palace and captured Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, sending him by plane to El Salvador. Congressional president Roberto Micheletti was appointed by Congress in Zelaya's place, with both men claiming to be the legitimate head of government. The coup has been widely condemned by area nations and the Organization of American States.

 

North Korea Mounts New Nuclear Tests

In defiance of the UN and international agreements, North Korea performed a new round of underground nuclear testing on May 25 and also undertook several missle tests, threatening war with South Korea if international sanctions were imposed in response.

 

Sri Lankan Civil War Ends

After a final, and bloody, campaign that saw most of the rebel leadership killed, the Sri Lankan government declared the decades-long civil war over in the island nation. The war between the Sri Lankan forces and the rebel Tamil Tigers cost some 80,000 lives and displaces tens of thousands more people.

 

Photo of Hong Kong Skyline
Featured Place

United Kingdom Returns Hong Kong to Chinese Sovereignty

In 1898, Great Britain agreed to lease Hong Kong (Hong Kong island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) from China for 99 years.  As that period ended, Britain and China engaged in talks about the ending of this lease, and finally reached agreement that Hong Kong would return to Chinese sovereignty as a special administrative region of China, retaining many of the commercial freedoms it had under British rule. On July 1, 1997, the change of sovereignty took place.



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